Continental Technology 'Drives' Cars That Drive Themselves

"The Boss" Autonomous Vehicle on Display at Consumer Electronics Show

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2008; "The Boss," the Chevy Tahoe making national news today as GM announces that cars that drive themselves could be ready for sale within a decade, is on display at the Consumer Electronics Show. It features safety technology provided by Continental.

"We are excited to be using our electronics expertise to help our automotive customers develop safety technologies that achieve our vision of zero vehicle crashes and injuries in the future," said Bill Kozyra, president and CEO Continental North America and Executive Board Member.

Continental's driving demonstrations and displays will be open to show-goers on Wednesday afternoon, January 9 and all day January 10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center Gold Lot. Visitors can:

-- Take a ride in "The Boss" as it drives itself by relying solely on radar and in-vehicle intelligence as its guide.

-- Drive Continental's ContiGuard(R) demonstration vehicle that shows how next generation wireless technologies and in-vehicle electronics may one day connect cars to each other and the roads to reduce traffic congestion and enhance vehicle safety.

-- Experience Continental's Safely There Mobile Exhibit with a "reality theater" and interactive exhibits explaining the latest in-vehicle electronics.

Sponsored by Continental Automotive Systems, Carnegie Mellon University's Tartan Racing Team last month won the 2007 Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge and the $2 million first place prize in the autonomous vehicle competition.

"This was an historic day in the push to make vehicles safer and smarter," said Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Continental's Chief Technology Officer. "The Continental environmental sensors performed flawlessly and helped Tartan Racing's driverless vehicle 'Boss' see the path to victory, moving intelligent vehicle technology forward."

"At Continental we believe the Urban Challenge was not 'pie in the sky' thinking on display. Instead, we view the competition as an incubator for the driving experience of the future. What DARPA seeks to demonstrate we at Continental embrace as our fundamental business culture as we strive to offer our customers... and 'consumers who are their customers'...the very best in automotive innovation, performance and reliability."

The 2007 Urban Challenge was the first time that autonomous (driverless) vehicles traversed suburban roads at speed with real traffic represented by 50 moving sedans with human drivers and the 11 race finalists in robot-on-robot competition. The autonomous vehicles in the DARPA Urban Challenge were required to navigate, park, and handle traffic on a 60-mile urban course within a six-hour time limit. The vehicles operated without human guidance and relied only on sensors and computers. The also had to obey traffic laws, merge into moving traffic, avoid obstacles, and negotiate intersections. In addition to the $2 million first prize, $1 million and $500,000 were awarded to the second-and third-place finishers, respectively.

Continental provided to Tartan Racing an array of advanced active safety radar and lidar sensors that help vehicles anticipate trouble before it happens, as well as its General brand Grabber UHP tires with Contiseal. In addition, the tier one automotive supplier provided engineering resources, including an imbedded engineer with expertise in sensor data fusion that like the human brain, enhances computing capability by combining information from different sensors to provide the robot and image of the total traffic environment in order to make appropriate decisions.

"Our sponsorship and active involvement with the Urban Challenge underscores our dedication to leveraging active safety technology in the development of intelligent vehicles to change the driving experience for the better--making individual mobility safer, more comfortable and sustainable," added Dr. Neumann.

About Tartan Racing

Tartan Racing is committed to automotive safety and convenience, and to the broader future of robotics. Tartan Racing's self-driving Chevy Tahoe, called "Boss," includes ten computers with 200,000 lines of software at the wheel, along with lasers, radars and cameras that sense roads and other cars. Boss already has logged hundreds of test miles. Two identical versions of Boss have been developed to enable extra testing and experience. Only one competed in the Urban Challenge, since only one vehicle is permitted per team.

In addition to Continental, other major sponsors of Tartan Racing include General Motors and Caterpillar. Additional sponsors include Intel, Google, Applanix, TeleAtlas, NetApp, Vector CANTech, Ibeo, Mobileye, HP, CarSim, CleanPower Resources and M/A-COM. Tartan Racing includes team members from Carnegie Mellon and sponsors.

About Continental

The Continental Corporation is a leading automotive supplier of brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers. In 2006 the corporation realized sales of EUR14.9 billion. At present it has a worldwide workforce of around 89,000.

As a worldwide leading technology and systems partner to the automotive industry, the Automotive Systems Division of Continental AG integrates extensive know-how and uncompromising quality in the fields of active and passive driving safety, embedded telematics and hands-free communication systems, powertrain and comfort. In 2006 the Division achieved sales of approx. Euro 6 billion with a workforce of more than 30,000. Continental Automotive Systems develops and produces electronic and hydraulic brake, stability and chassis control systems, electronic air suspension systems, sensors, engine management and transmission control systems, hybrid drives, cooling fan modules, body and security electronics and also is the industry leader of embedded telematics and communication systems in vehicles.

Internet media databases: www.contiautomotive.com